General mumblings about life as seen through the rosie speckled glass of our current accommodations. Oh, wait, those are ladybugs..

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

a night to remember

Recently my husband and I went out on a date night. No really - a full date with dinner and a show included!

Finally, a chance to dress up in clothes that didn't say Marmot, North Face or Patagonia (the uniform de riguer here in the mountains). Real shoes instead of Sorels. Suede pants, button up shirt and my black biker boots (note to self - do NOT wear treadless shoes in mountains between October and May - how do people live in Danskos here?). A chance to wear those clothes that I just HAD to tote across country positive that I would need them on a regular basis.

Dinner was not Mexican fare. Instead, we splurged on The Grouse Mountain Grill. A five star restaurant in Beaver Creek. A 40 page wine list. The car was valeted, we were ushered in at the appointed reservation time and we were seated overstuffed, wood-framed upholstered chairs by the floor to ceiling windows which had a spectacular, panoramic view of the Beaver Creek & Vail valleys. We were Somebodies! Yes, Randy had the chops pictured on the site - pretzel coated pork chops with a honey mustard sauce and brussel sprouts - how could he POSSIBLY resist that?? Dinner was unbelievable, perfectly served and portioned, the waitstaff friendly and professional, and in fact, with the prices being what they are in many of the establishments here, the cost was actually comperable to many other places. So why would we even consider dining at a lesser rated place?? I mean really. Dessert was chocolate crème fraiche cheesecake with chocolate truffle topping & lemon scented chocolate cookie crust.

We then un-valeted and parked in the heated, yes, I do mean heated at 65 degrees, parking garage and walked up to the glittering Vilar Performing Tarts Center, I mean Arts, to see Keb' Mo', who by the way, is an absolutely amazing blues singer/performer. He was performing solo - just him and a selection of guitars for almost 2 hours to the most rapt audience ever. This venue is a fairly new structure and what an acoustically perfect building! It seats 500 and there is not a bad seat in the house. Here's where we sat.

What a night!! And the best part, we were home by 10:00 p.m. which for us is the magic hour in which we turn into pumpkins. Yay - date night!